The ability of honey to kill bacterial pathogens in vitro
and quickly clear even chronic or drug-resistant infections has been
demonstrated by several studies. Most current research is focused on
identifying the bactericidal compounds in honey, but the action of the
compounds discovered is not sufficient to explain honey's activity.
By diluting honey to sub-inhibitory levels, we were able to
study its impact on bacterial coordinated behavior, and discovered that honey
inhibits bacterial quorum sensing (QS). Experiments to characterize and
quantify honey's effect on the QS networks of Pseudomonas aeruginosa revealed
that low concentrations of honey inhibited the expression of MvfR, las, and rhl
regulons, including the associated virulence factors.
This research also establishes that inhibition of QS is
associated with honey's sugar content. Therefore, honey combats infections by
two independent mechanisms acting in tandem: bactericidal components, which
actively kill cells, and disruption of QS, which weakens bacterial coordination
and virulence.
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